Khaled Hosseini

If you haven't already fallen in love with Mr. Hosseini through his words at BEA 2008 ("And if that writer were a woman, it would be so much sweeter for me... I'll accept this award as her proxy"), maybe this will do it.

As a secular Muslim, I too was offended. Obama's middle name differs from my last name by only two vowels. Does the McCain-Palin campaign view me as a pariah too? Do McCain and Palin think there's something wrong with my name?

I'd like to think that you don't have to be an Obama supporter to object to seeing his name turned into an epithet.